Synthetic organic polymers are employed widely to create a variety of products. Included among such varied products are blown and cascade films, extruded sheets, foams, fibers, products made from foam and fibers, woven and knitted fabrics, non-woven fibrous webs and molded articles for garment, upholstery and medical uses, to name a few. Many polymers used in these products, such as polypropylene, exhibit some water and/or alcohol resistance but exhibit no oil resistance.
The use of various fluorochemical agents to topically treat a variety of fibers and fibrous substrates such as textiles, carpet, leather, paper and non-woven webs, to impart desirable properties to these materials, is known. See for example Mason Hayek, Waterproofing and Water/Oil Repellency, 24, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, pp. 448-455 (3rd Edition 1979) or Banks, Ed., Organofluorine Chemicals and Their Industrial Applications, Ellis Horwood Ltd., Chichester, England, pp. 226-234 (1979). Such fluorochemical compositions include fluorochemical urethane and urea-based oligomers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,182 of Guenthner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,305 of Dear et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,205 of Landucci et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,737 of Stem; U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,406 of Chang; U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,354 of Matsuo et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,073 of Kirchner; compositions of cationic and non-cationic fluorochemicals as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,981 of Howells; and compositions containing fluorochemical carboxylic acid and epoxidic cationic resin as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,466 of Schwartz and U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,485 of Klun et al., as well as in PCT application WO 99/05345, also of Klun et al.
Also known are fluorochemical esters as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,474 of Raiford et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,126 of Anton et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,715 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,585, both of Dettre; U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,401 of Axelrod; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,484 of Pattel; and fluorochemical esters derived from dimerized unsaturated fatty acids as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,006 of Langford and WO 93/10085 of Coppens et al. These fluorochemicals can be applied to various substrates by methods known in the art, including spraying, padding, and finish bath immersion, or can be applied directly to the fiber before the fiber is woven by incorporating the fluorochemical into the fiber spin finish.
Blending a variety of fluorochemicals with synthetic organic polymers and melt extruding fibers from the molten blend to produce fiber and fibrous substrates exhibiting hydrophobicity (water resistance) and oleophilicity (oil resistance) is also known. Such patents include U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,052 of Crater et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,778 of Buckanin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,622 of Boardman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,576 of Jones et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,587 of Mascia et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,717 of Rolando et al.
While these various fluorochemical melt additives can in some cases impart satisfactory hydrophobicity and/or oleophobicity to resins, many suffer poor thermal stability above the 200° C. melt processing temperature which is often encountered in the industry. It would be desirable to have a fluorochemical additive that was stable at the temperatures used in commercial polymer processing and forming equipment.
Others, such as the melt additives of Klun et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,485 and WO 99/05345, are thermally stable at high processing temperatures but are required to be used in unacceptably high amounts so as to make them economically undesirable.
It would be desirable to have a fluorochemical additive that could be incorporated into molten polymers or curable thermoset polymers that could be formed into fibers, films, fabrics (woven or nonwoven) or cast articles to enhance the inherent water, oil, and/or alcohol resistance of the resulting product.